Tochi Tate
Tochi Tate (土地・盾) is a Fairy Tail Mage since she joined the guild in X780. She gave birth to a daughter, Haruhi, in X792. Despised in her homeplace for being the offspring of the "Forest's Witch", she kept the nickname the inhabitants gave her mother, adding "Echo" to it as a form of revenge on the townspeople that killed Ethya, so she could live through her daughter. Inexpressive and quiet, Tochi is extremely reserved, bitter, and chases people away through the sheer force of the mystery that surrounds her. Rare were the guild members patient or stubborn enough to get her to open up, piercing her emotionless shield and discovering her real, hidden personnality. She died in X796 due to the Hanahaki Disease. She refused the surgical removal, finally accepting the feelings she struggled with during 16 years. Appearance Tochi is an average-looking, thin girl of medium height, with regular sized breasts. Blending in quite easily due to her choice of clothing, of dark colors as if to replicate her default mood, and general appearance, she is surrounded by an aura of mystery that tends to drive people away. Despite looking completely normal, she emits uneasiness in an obnoxious cloud around her, and her lack of facial expressions often discourages potential friends. Outside of this, she doesn't have much for her. Her greyish brown hair is painfully ordinary, lacking a healthy shine, and her pale peachy skin doesn't add much to her looks. The only barely interesting thing about would have been her eyes if they weren't dulled and dark like this, as if light itself had run away from them. It's not as if she was ugly, children her age could even have found her attractive, but she is desperately bland and, in the end, far less attractive than other girls with more personality. Tochi, having noticed all of this, tends to wear more appealing clothes, accessories and hairstyles or at least, what she thinks is appealing. She thus tends to copy some features of her guildmates' clothing. When she first appears, she is seen wearing a frilly green dress tied right under her developing chest with a faux leather brown belt, resembling Natsu's at the same period, and polished black shoes. Her hair is tied in two pigtails by green hair ties, leaving only a singly hair lock loose on the right side of her face and her bangs messily falling on her forehead. On her left wrist, much like, once again, Natsu's wristband, Tochi has bind a green ribbon, a dear gift from her mother. She later admits that this look was meant to emulate the cuteness of her counterparts, as she had noticed many girls her age wore cute, frilly dresses and pigtails in magazines. Her next change of appearance only happens seven years later, after the time skip. Tochi has blossomed into a beautiful, big-chested woman and abandons childishness to appeal to more adult passions. Her expression has, during that time, shifted from emotionless and bored to openly aggressive and bitter. Pigtails gone, only a side ponytail is left falling on her right shoulder. Her previous bangs and hair lock remain, a trademark style for her. Out of these, not much has stayed the same, mirroring their owner's state of mind. Now exhibiting a green tank top slit to reveal her cleavage – but still restrained with laces as she wishes to keep a bit of privacy – and a black miniskirt, Tochi openly plays on her newfound charms to draw a bit of attention on her. To her feet are her beloved, sloppy, worn-off brown boots, and she wears a green choker holding a golden medal – that she found while sneaking in Natsu and Happy's house. Following the missing guild members' return, she sports green wristbands on each arm and a faux leather brown armband on her right biceps. A year later, some small differences can be noticed in her demeanor, that appears more laid back than before, but also less overly sexualized. She is often found gazing lovingly in the distance, lost in thoughts, or smiling sweetly, and seems to have matured during her absence. Alas, this is only an act hiding the outright madness that consumes her, much like the bandages on her forearms hiding her self-inflicted injuries. Her hair, much longer and slightly looser, isn’t tied with her favorite ribbon anymore, that is nowhere to be seen. Instead, a green hair tie does the job very well. Tochi kept her choker and boots, but has now her shoulders wrapped in a long black cape with a hood and sports a short green dress, much more comfortable to support her pregnancy. In X793, as she last appears, her attire conjuncts her inner childishness, femininity and practicality perfectly, a deed she always dreamed to accomplish. It consists of a green, long-sleeved shirt leaving her shoulders exposed, black shorts and long boots of the same color than before, but thinner, higher and following the curve of her legs instead of falling back. Of her previous outfit, only her choker is left. She cut her hair short, probably to keep it out of the way now that she's a mother. Personality Quiet and withdrawn, Tochi is a secretive young girl, hiding her real personality, that she is extremely critical of, behind an emotionless and apathetic front. Due to her overwhelming shyness, she hates to stand out, especially in a bad manner, yet desperately craves the attention of others to function properly without thinking her way into a fit of paranoia. Outside validation even takes a place of choice in her life : having low self-esteem and being unable to make choices for herself, her only source of satisfaction in herself comes from her surroundings' positive opinion of her. As such, she is terrified of criticism, disapproval, rejection or simply anything that would indicate a negative shift of opinion. To avoid the worst outcome, Tochi thus puts an enormous amount of pressure on herself, usually sabotaging her : she becomes awkward and tense when taking part in a conversation, increasingly freezing and stuttering as she speaks, which causes her fears to come true. Ignoring how to stop this eternal loop of failures, she prefers to avoid social interactions at all and grounds herself in solitude. With time though, she found another mean of communication in reading and writing, a passion she shares with Lucy and Levy, which played an important role in their friendship. She yet tends to keep it to herself. The two girls aren't the only ones she interacts with in the guild : although their dialogue is generally strained, solely based on small talk, Natsu isn't any less of a central figure in Tochi's world. Since her arrival in the girl, she has a huge crush on her guild mate, and those unrequited feelings, on top of her inability to put herself in others’ shoes – thus being the origin of many misunderstandings – created many of the girl’s insecurities, reflected in her appearance and behavior. For example, the fact that she blends in effortlessly makes her uneasy and self-conscious when he is involved, since she assumes it means she has no attractiveness. As a result, she chooses her outfits based on what she thinks will appeal to him, such as some accessories copied from him or random stuff she picked out of magazines. Assuming that she’d never had a chance to win his heart, she yet never tried to suggest directly any of her feelings through her body language or speech, believing that he’s perfectly able to fully and rightfully decide for them both. This naivety, born of her childish and romantic nature, is frequently shown to be a problem. An example of this can be when her gullibility leads to her passivity in situations where, on the contrary, she needs to take action, or when it results in taking stupid decisions that gravely endanger her. Otherwise, Tochi can be considered a wise, knowledgeable person using her talents for her own benefits and occasionally, for her friends. But her spasmodic altruism isn't the only quality brought up by her closure with those she considers family. Much like she was taught during her time at the guild, Tochi is undyingly loyal and protective of them – although it's suggested it might actually come from the impact that the murder of her mother and only blood relative left on her – providing a constant source of support to her elders and sticking for them through hardships, often found distributing advice, words of wisdom or of kindess. She is much more relaxed around them, providing an anchor to normalcy in the guild's insanity, and, if lead to speak about her passions, will display genuine love and knowledge about her subject. She's even able to get rid of her speech inhibitions if the integrity of a dear friend of hers is in danger and would probably kill for them if allowed, although this deed has so far only been accomplished in a fit of rage. She has been noted to care very little about her own safety and to engage in reckless behaviors if believing it's for the greater good. Seven years later, the pure, innocent little girl the missing guild members left has become more openly sour and harsh. Cold anger constantly boils under her skin, shot in glares at whoever crosses her path, even at her beloved family to whom she barely adresses a word anymore, giving them the cold shoulder on a regular basis. She's extremely emotional and quick to resolve to silent aggressivity released in bursts, during which she can become uncontrolably violent, and seemingly have no regrets about it afterwards, as shown during her fight against Kyôka. If she was prone to giving advice or kind words before, the purpose of her speeches is now completely different. Crafting words in a way that benefits her, Tochi manipulates her surrondings as she pleases, either getting them to leave her alone or gaining something of personal interest out of it. She leaves out no weaknesses, no informations about herself whatsoever, always subtly redirecting the conversation on her subject of choice by blatantly lying or brushing over the subject. Others are kept at a distance, pushed them away the second they dig their nails into her inner, terribly hurt self, too afraid to let them in her heart a second time if to completely destroy her when facing an inevitable separation once again. However, despite her best will, she slowly opens up as time passes and is unable to ignore some of her feelings, including her crush on Natsu, that had kept growing in a pathological obsession during the entirety of the time they were apart, and opened up the door for the madness that slowly creeps in through the cracks. Erza's the one playing a bigger role this time, managing to get her to laugh and to expose weaknesses in all the years they've known each other. This positive evolution is short-lived, cut abruptly following the events leading to Fairy Tail's disbanding. The trauma of learning her mother's true nature and, consequently, her own, on top of having none to turn to when Tochi needs it deeply shapes her later actions. An existential crisis and her already existing issues boil down to a crazier and much more depressive warp of her personality. From simply being bad at social interactions, agressive and acting out of impulse rather often, Tochi becomes fully antisocial and exhibits an inability to communicate properly, either being too blunt or losing herself in metaphors. Her unrequited love-turned-obsession for Natsu had completely broken her, pushing her to initiate extreme violence toward other humans she considers to be in her way, self-harm out of self-loathing and hallucinations. She rarely ever displays guilt or remorse over anything due to completely blocking it out through most of her everyday life, enabling her to be so cruel and nasty at her worst and making it hit thrice as hard each time she lets it out. Her notion of herself and the others is blurred, with erratic alternations between trust and distrust or idolization and hatred, making her an overall unstable person. This is more noticeable when she enters her Etherious form, as if her demon side twisted her, fully displaying her mental illness which is otherwise hidden under a kind, smiling and air-headed front. It has been revealed to not be due to her pregnancy since it lasted after Haruhi's birth, as seen when she almost choked the newborn to death during an acute psychosis, as she was convinced that killing the infant would erase all evidence of her mistakes, whose weight was tearing her apart to the point of losing what little sanity she had left. Thankfully, in X793, she appears to have gotten better thanks to her friends' help, or perhaps to parenthood, with most of her horrifyingly terrible traits dulled or flat out absent. Magic and Abilities Green Magic (緑の魔法 Midori no Mahō): A supportive Magic capable of controlling nature, while stated to have little to no offensive capabilities. Tochi uses it mostly to support and protect her friends in combat, can instantly create any kinds of plants for various purposes, with some of them even having the ability to move on their own at high speed to a desired destination. She isn't always using it for good though. Tochi learned this Magic in a book her mother brought back of her travels, with her help. * Vines (Unnamed) : '''Thin vines grow out of the ground, with or without hand gesture, to lauch themselves toward their target. They can vary in size. Tochi uses this spell all the time, for different purposes, such as trap an enemy or grab something she can't reach. ** '''Thorns (Unnamed) : Basically the same spell than Vines, but with sharper and thorny vines, with almost the same use. She can use it to hurt an enemy while ensnared or for basic murder. She only did the latter once, in an excess of madness. ** Climbing Plants (Unnamed) : Tochi makes climbing plants grow around a building to hide or to protect it, like she did with her childhood home and with Happy and Natsu's House during their first dissapearance. * Forest Shield (森のシールド Mori no Shiirudo): Tochi claps her hands on the ground, where appears a gigantic green magic circle. Trees then grow around her, inside the magic circle. The more she'll use magic, the bigger and larger the trees and circle will be. If she isn't careful enough, this spell can consume all her magic in once, as shown during the Phantom Lord Arc. * Odorant Flowers (Unnamed) : ' Plants with a strong smell grow out of the ground to affect Tochi's assailants in different ways. Before directly making them grow around her, she only made one grow to collect her perfume in vials she threw on her ennemies. ** '''Fart Flower : ' Tochi make a plant with a very bad smell grow next to her, to prank or to knock out an enemy. It's very effective on Natsu or Gajeel for exemple. ** 'Sleep-Inducing Flower (Unnamed) : ' Like Sleep Magic, the perfume the flower releases put the person that smells it into sleep. * '''Healing Plants : Plants with the ability to heal someone if used in a special way. Tochi never use this type of spell during combat, because the raw plant in itself is mostly useless. It needs to be cooked or treated. When prepared, Tochi puts it into vials she is keeping close. Transformation Magic (変身魔法 Henshin Mahō) : Tochi is skilled in the use of Transformation Magic, a magic she never showed to anyone but Mirajane and Natsu, and only to fool the latter. She is able to perform Basic '''and '''Intermediate transformations. However, this costs her an incredible amount of magic, so she doesn't use it daily or in combat. Mirajane taught her this magic along with Natsu, Lucy and Happy, but while they gave up quickly, she pursued her training in secret. Etherious Form (エーテリアス フォーム Ēteriasu Fōmu): Despite not directly being an Etherious, Tochi is able to enter the Etherious Form her mother passed her on. She doesn't have all of Ethya's features, but still have some of them. Tochi needs to be careful not to use for too long because she risks to turn into a full Demon and to lose her humanity. * Enhanced Magic Power : '''Her Etherious form is giving her the access to her Second Origin, allowing her to perform much more powerful spells. * '''Enhanced Physical Strenght : '''Whereas Tochi isn't particularly strong, her Etherious Form triple her strenght, allowing her to throw much more stronger punches. * '''Enhanced Durability : '''While Tochi is shown to be quite fragile in combat, when transformed, she gains the ability to survive much more powerful assaults with less damage. '''Keen Intellect : Tochi has proven herself to be a very intelligent and logical Mage. She was able to read through the lines of letters her mother exchanged with an unknown consignee. She also was able to figure out Natsu loved Lucy before anyone could. However, Tochi can only think straight when her mind isn't clouded by thoughts of failing loved ones, triggered by witnessing them hurt, or by her own fears and insecurities. Deep Knowledge : '''Due to all the scientific and medical books she read most of her childhood, Tochi have a deep knowledge of plants, Fiore's geography and health. She can for exemple declare a plant is poisoned in a few seconds or find her way in a forest she's never been to before. Her skills don't apply to cities and people. '''Medical Specialist : '''Tochi is a specialist when it comes to healing, especially wounds caused by Magic. She does so by employing special medicines, which she extracts from herbs. It also implies she can put a tourniquet on, bandage the others' wounds, give plant medecine when needed and perform CPR. These skills are very helpful in the middle of a battle. '''Great Photographic Memory : '''Tochi is shown having an excellent visual memory. She is able to memorise the contents of an entire book with 95% accuracy after reading it three times. Small amounts of information only take one reading. It can help her other skills daily in situations her intellect alone couldn't. '''Enhanced Endurance : '''Tochi has shown to have great physical stamina. This was first seen seven years later, when she battled against Tartaros' troops, Kyôka and Mard Geer one after another without showing fatigue. After the one year timeskip, this ability is shown to be even greater, when Tochi took part in the war against the Alvarez Empire while being pregnant, and battled against a few enemies before starting to show some fatigue. Equipment '''Bottomless Bag : '''A leather satchel she carries everywhere with her. It seems average and worn, but it actually is an enchanted bag that works like Requip Magic. It can carry more than a hundred items and only obeys to its owner. Tochi fills it with vials, books and first aid supplies, sometimes with snacks for long travels. * '''Books : '''Tochi always carry some books with her in case she's bored, but it can be a very helpful item when she is facing hard enigmas and puzzles. They aren't really needed daily, though, Tochi can memorise them whole. * '''First Aid Kit : '''As an healer, Tochi always bring it with her. It saved her and her partners countless times, especially in the middle of the battlefield, when her allies are too hurt to fight and cannot wait for an actual medic to heal them. ** '''Bandages & Wound Dressings : '''She is careful not to let them reach their end, and always keep an extra roll of bandages in case she doesn't have enough. She keeps wound dressings in a tiny pocket, if needed. * [http://fairytail.wikia.com/wiki/Magic_Vials?li_source=LI&li_medium=wikia-footer-wiki-rec '''Magic Vials]' : '''Tochi's bag is full of vials filled of perfume, spores and remedies she previously made to help her in combat. It can save her life or her allies', as shown numerous times, and is as efficient in close and long-range fights. However, neither Tochi nor her friends are imune to them and Tochi needs to be sure it will not affect her friends before using it. ** '''Healing Items : '''Items collected from plants, treated and put into vials to be used for healing when necessary. *** '''Potions : '''Made to be drunk in order to heal. *** '''Ointment :' Made to be applied in order to heal. ** Helping Items : Items collected from plants, treated and put into vials to be used in combat when necessary. *** Sleep-inducing spores / perfume : An odorant potion that induce everyone that smells it into sleep when opened. *** Fart perfume : '''A perfume that smells really bad and can disturb to knock out an enemy when opened. Is very effective on persons with a good nose. Often used as a prank. '''Green Choker : '''The gold medal she wears was something she found in Happy and Natsu's House when cleaning it, during their dissapearance. She kept it and tied it to a choker, to never forget him completely. '''Green Ribbon (Former) : '''Tochi inherited a green ribbon from her mother, that she apparently got from her husband. Ethya gave it to Tochi when she promised to become a great doctor. Later, during the 1 year timeskip, Tochi gave it to Natsu, using it to tie the letter she put into his bag. The ribbon then was given to Haru, Tochi's daughter. History Tochi was born in a small cottage within Lilac Forest on January 22nd, X780. Her mother had settled in this abandonned house some time prior to her birth to hide from the bloodthirsty townspeople of her previous living place, which she returned to for a brief day, fully disguised and with a newborn Tochi, only to discover it had been burned to the ground. As a baby, Tochi often accompagnied Ethya on travels since she was unable to take care of herself yet, but was left at home as soon as she was considered functional enough to stay on her own. She would first be provided food to save, then slowly taught how to scavenge for it, as well as given other life tips on survival. All of this is why, at age four, Tochi was fully capable to recognize all the plants in the forest she lived, proficient in basic first aid and could set traps for animals to fall into, to then be cooked. It was around that time Ethya started bringing back books for Tochi to read from her travels, with expotentially complicated subjects. Since her mother often got back hurt and had to be treated with various plants that weren't growing in the forest, Tochi picked up Green Magic in a book and learned the preparation of herbal medecine in another. This made Ethya extremely proud of her, as she would shower her little medic with praise every time she could. Happy to be useful, Tochi promised her mother to become a great doctor able to cure everything and, to seal this pledge, Ethya gave her the green ribbon she was always wearing, her only gifted possession left from back when she was married. Unallowed to quit the forest, Tochi busied herself in the books she was given, always looking for a way to further her knowledge on the outside world. For eight years, she followed her mother's advice and never went out of the limits she was given, trying to satisfy her curiosity in every way she could. However, one day, as Ethya was away, Tochi decided to disobey her mother, her curiosity having gotten the best of her. She sneaked into the village and was met with children her age playing games that she didn't know. Too taken aback by the sudden social interaction and her lack of knowledge, she froze and was unable to answer. The children, finding her weird, started throwing rocks at her, and the noise soon brought their parents who happily joined the fray as she was only the 'Forest's Witch damn offspring'. Frightened beyond belief, Tochi ran back into the forest, soon followed by the villagers who had decided they had enough with Lilac Forest's inhabitants, aiming to kill. She was saved by her mother's prompt return, who ordered her to hide in a tree with a hole big enough to hide her. She obeyed, no wanting to repeat her mistake, and it was the last time she ever saw Ethya alive. This traumatic experience warped the naive view she had of the world. She resolved herself to never get out of the forest as a way to try and fix her biggest mistake, and lived two years in complete autarcy, slowly becoming more animal-like. She woud often have to hide or fight off the townspeople that often made raids in the forest to trash her belongings and, as a result, she begun to set traps around her house, forced to back down into a progressively smaller area as time went on. Eventually, the villagers sent a request to mage guilds to help them. After some unexperienced mages easily chased away with a combinaison of traps, Makarov happens to stumble upon the job and decides to go there to investigate. He meets Tochi as she prays on her mother's grave. Enraged to be disturbed in such a private moment, she immediately attacks him with plants, but quickly pales at the sight of his easy handle of her magic. She then tries to lead him in traps, but she ends up caught in them and admits defeat, bracing herself for her death. Surprisingly, he offers her to take her to Fairy Tail, a place where live children her age. It takes some convincing, as her first and latest experience with children had deeply affected her, but she eventually agrees to it, tired of the endless fighting and still curious about the outside world. Days later, after a tremendous trip during which she's bought presentable clothing and gets to know Makarov better, she's introduced to the guild and despite her obvious lack of communication skills, is well-received. She joins some days after that. Years later, she accomplishes a job in a Haunted Mansion where thieves work, that she'll later describe as the hardest job she'd ever took. Synopsis '''Phantom Lord Arc During the Guild War between Fairy Tail and the Phantom Lord Guild, Tochi is first seen in the First Fairy Tail Building's basement, leaning against a wall near Makarov, emotionless. When Lucy notices her, she gets curious and ask Mirajane Strauss about her, while Natsu is arguing with their Master. Mirajane quickly answers : her name is Tochi Tate, and she is an old member. Due to her secrecy, she is barely noticeable and is a complete mystery. Later on, when the guild discovers Levy McGarden, Jet and Droy nailed to a tree, her calm façade totally vanished to be remplaced by total fury. We can see her clenching her fists, letting tears of rage falling on her cheeks. It is later revealed through a flashback that Levy was her first friend in the guild. Engulfed with rage, she rushes to Phantom Lord along with her comrades to declare war. In the middle of the battle, she is easily progressing : she throws vials filled with sleep-inducing spores, make various plants who only attack her enemies grow around her, completely dedicated to bring revenge to her friend. But when Makarov falls from above, she freeze with utter horror. When Fairy Tail retreats, she is visibly shaken, wiping her frustrated tears away. She follows Bisca and Alzack to Porlyusica's house, giving to the injured Makarov first aid while taking him there. She is surprised when the healer slaps the unconscious master in the face. Demanding an explanation, she is told it is punishment for having rushed into things without considering his age. The woman then angrily demands to know why the three of them are still around, which prompts Tochi to try and convince the healing Mage to let her stay, stating that she's worried for her master and can help healing him. Porlyusica orders them again to go home, stating that worried faces are bad for the ill. She proceeds to explain the mechanics behind Aria's Airspace Magic, the cause of Makarov's injury, and, when the three "guests" state they'll let the others know about it, she angrily reprimands them for still being around, running after them with a broom in a comedic way and prompting them to leave. Back at the guild, she is briefly seen packing more vials, expressionless. It is yet implied she's trying not to cry again. When the ground begins to shake, she rushes outside to see Phantom Lord's headquarters walking towards the guild. Jose then reveals the powerful Jupiter Cannon, and orders it to be fired. Fairy Tail panics, but Erza is resolved to stop the cannon blast herself, to much protest. Requipping into her Adamantine Armor, Erza prepares herself to take the full brunt of the blast, but before she could, Tochi gets in her way, terrorised by the idea of her dying. In a desperate attempt to shield her guild, she uses all her magic to cast the Forest Shield to deviate or to weaken the blast, proudly saying it is only her purpose. In the end, Tochi ends heavily injured and Erza's armor is almost shattered, but the latter is safe and can still fight. The young mage is brought to the Healing Mage to be healed. During the guild's reconstruction, Tochi, covered with bandages, is seen helping in the background, even if Mirajane told her not to exert too much so soon. Unable to carry objects any further, she accepts her defeat and stops helping. Battle of Fairy Tail Arc It is stated that she's gone for a mission shortly after Team Natsu's return. Daphne Arc She witnesses Wendy Marvell's induction into the guild, surprised to meet someone her age she can spend time with. She also learns she masters the Sky Dragon's Healing Spell, that allows her to heal people, like Tochi can do with the plants she makes with her Green Magic. When Wendy notices they share the same kind of magic, she starts asking Tochi for tips. It's the beginning of their friendship. A week after Wendy's arrival, Tochi is seen next to her, helping her to examine the request board. They are approached by Lucy and Levy, who both want Wendy to go on her first mission with their respective groups. As Wendy is about to choose, Lucy tells Tochi she was surprised the Green Magic user could actually bond with Levy and Wendy. For the first time, Tochi talks to Lucy : she is wondering if the Celestial Spirit mage really is writing stories, like Levy said. She then asks if she could eventually read them, revealing with hesitation she is fond of books and is dreaming to become a famous author. Thus begun her third friendship. When Wendy leaves with Natsu, Happy and Carla, she waves her shyly, hoping everything will be like she wanted. Later on, Tochi, along with Lucy and Erza, is worried about her friend and Natsu, having a really bad feeling about this. She doesn't seem to care about Gray. When Lucy and Erza are leaving to search them, she asks them to bring back Wendy and Natsu sound and safe. Erza kindly comforts her as Tochi look at her in awe. When the Dragonoid reaches Magnolia, she is seen fighting with her guildmates, and when Natsu orders them to destroy the Dragonoid at all costs, even if it means that he should be destroyed with it, Tochi is cringing at the thought. She cries she could never do such a thing. She then combines her magic with Fairy Tail's, to produce fire that Natsu could ingest. As she sees Natsu defeating Daphne, she is again crying, this time with utter admiration and relief. Without any sense of shame, Tochi runs to hug Natsu, relieved. She celebrates his return with her guild. Edolas Arc Tochi is briefly seen among the crowd welcoming Gildarts Clive – Fairy Tail's strongest mage and the ace member – home after three years of absence, appearing rather bored, uninterested in his return yet blushing as Natsu tries to fight him and fails. Much like the rest of Magnolia – except for Natsu, Wendy, Carla and Happy – Tochi is sucked up by the Animadimensional gate into the parallel world of Edolas. There, the town had been turned into a Giant Lacrima meant to supply Edolas with infinite magic. Fortunately, Mystogan's intervention reverses the sucking process and throws it back into Earthland with everything that belongs in it. The buildings, along with the inhabitants and Fairy Tail members, are turned back to normal with no memory of what happened. While the guild is overjoyed over Lisanna's return, Tochi feels a pang of jealousy at the sight of a rival she thought lost coming back to further ruin her chances with Natsu. Tenrou Island Arc During Lisanna's welcoming party, Tochi is seen multiple times quietly sulking in a corner, sipping on some drink and giving no attention to the festivities. Following the resulting 'brawl' and subsequential collective nap, Lucy witnesses Tochi exiting the guild depressingly and, having built up curiosity in the girl for a while now, decides to follow her. Her stalk takes her to the East Forest, where stand naked cherry trees from the Blossom-Viewing Festival, one under which Tochi sits and lets her tears out as plants grow out around her, forming an arch above her head protecting her from the falling snow and giving life back to the tree. Taken aback by the sudden beauty born out of Tochi's fingers, Lucy inadvertently signals her position, to Tochi's annoyance and shame of having been seen while displaying a weakness. Halfheartedly, she gestures to the Celestial Spirit mage to sit next to her and takes a blanket out of her satchel for Lucy to cover herself up with it. The two girls begin to talk. Tochi is asked why she was crying, but she refuses to answer at first. Brought to open up by Lucy sharing some of her own insecurities, she admits her jealousy of both Lisanna and Lucy herself due to their place of choice in Natsu's life. She compares them to princesses in fairy tales, lucky and always getting their happiness out of the story they're in, while her, a witch, is always chased down and killed in the end, even if her deeds were barely deserving of any of it and were only founded on personal motivations. She then brings up her story. She talks about her mother, an absent woman that taught her life through books and restrictions. She talks about the angry villagers that were out for her blood only because she was her mother's daughter. She talks about Makarov's kindness, the warmth of Fairy Tail and Natsu's smile being the first sight she had of this happy world. In the end of her tirade, she ends up crying as she wishes that there could be a happy ending just for her to try to reach, a single storybook showing the witch live happily ever after. Taking her hands as she was moved to tears by the little girl's story, Lucy promises to write this book for her, since she's an author in the making. Taken aback, Tochi smiles joyfully at this pledge, agreeing to it, still tearing up. She then notes that they should probably go back to a warm place, since the snow keeps falling and slowly freezes them. Later on, Tochi is seen at the bar, barely paying any mind to the rush for missions, a common occurrence at this time of the year. She's also seen in the background the next day, as the Master names the participants to the S-Class Mage Promotion Trial, showing an happy face when Natsu is finally announced to take part in it, as she knows he's been wanting to for a long time, believing it's the first step to have better luck finding Igneel. When Lucy leaves the guild to take the boat for Tenrou Island in Hargeon, Tochi is last seen waving her, smiling weakly, as the blonde promises her to start writing the tale as soon as she comes back. X791 Arc Before she is actually seen, we learns from Macao Conbolt that Tochi barely frequents the guild anymore, always on missions, in the forest or somewhere else. According to him, it's such a shame that such a nice girl ended with such an awful personality. When she finally comes back, having learned the missing members of Fairy Tail mysteriously reappeared, she seems horrified rather than relieved or delighted. First, her old friends don't recognise her, but they quickly remember her old self and are happy to see her. But she still isn't happy, and while everyone smile and hug, she flees, too overwhelmed to participate. We then learns through an inner monologue why she's acting that way : during the past 7 years, she did her best to forget everything about the missing members, to suppress the unbearable pain that came with Natsu's dissapearance, her sunshine. However, no matter how hard she tried, her crush didn't go away. It came back stronger, and she had to agree it was way more that just a crush. Lately, she was close to success, and she could have completely erased her painful feelings for them if they didn't come back all of the suddent, out of nowhere. After years of building-up hatred and jealousy, already knowing she doesn't stand a chance with Natsu, she can't afford her awful feelings to come back and torment her, she can't let her dear friends, that left her with the image of a shy and quiet little sister, see her so ugly actual self. Terrified they'd leave if they saw the real her, she rejects them one by one, in order not to be hurt. If she leaves them first, they couldn't leave her, because she already did ! She then wouldn't feel the crushing pain that came with abandonment ! But she does seem to suffer when she sees that Lucy's hurt by her rejection... There is one person she can't turn away : no matter how hard she tries, she can't bear to reject Natsu. She didn't keep his house safe under climbing plants and saved Natsu and Happy's hidden money for nothing ! Shyly, she gives them their belongings back, trying to keep Natsu from slipping away from her while he seems to do so. Unable to choose between staying with her friends but getting hurt and leaving them but ending the pain, she is stuck and decides to avoid Fairy Tail to avoid the choice itself. Key of the Starry Sky Arc Tochi isn't seen at all during this arc, but it isn't because she's gone to a mission. She is just trying to avoid her missing friends that came back, to chase away old ghosts that torment her. Grand Magic Games Arc When the day of the Games finally arrives, Tochi, along with the rest of the guild members, cheers for Team Fairy Tail A in the stands. They are all surprisingly greeted by Mavis Vermilion, who has also come to watch the Games and cheer for her guild. When Fairy Tail's second team, Team Fairy Tail B, enters, Fairy Tail cheers again. Mavis notices that the man disguised as Mystogan is Jellal Fernandes, but accepts Makarov's decision to let him participate. During Lucy's fight against Flare Corona, Tochi, alongside her guild mates, watches Lucy, unaware that Flare has Asuka as a hostage to make Lucy lose. Everyone is surprised when Natsu unveils Flare's attempt at cheating, but even with the exposure of it, Lucy still loses. Two days later, after the dissipation of Alexei's illusion of him overwhelming his opponent, Laxus, Tochi is bewildered to see that all of the Team Raven Tail members have been defeated by Laxus alone. Later that day, Tochi and the other Fairy Tail members are seen partying at a local bar for their successful day. Soon after, Levy suggests the guild members go to rest at the water park Ryuzetsu Land, Fiore's most well-known summer rage spot. However, Tochi refuses, using her misanthropy as an excuse. After said event, she learns that the resort was destroyed by Natsu himself. After the Grand Magic Games administration decides to reorganize the teams due to Raven Tail's disqualification, Fairy Tail as a result reorganizes its team to consist of five members. Tochi, alongside her fellow Fairy Tail members, is seen in the audience, but soon dissapears in the crowd for no particular reason. The final tag battle of the day then begins between Fairy Tail's own Natsu and Gajeel and Sabertooth's Sting and Rogue. She reappeared, watching, anxiously After seeing Natsu and Gajeel seemingly fall to the Twin Dragons and then stand up, she watches in shock as Natsu goes to take the two on alone. When the two teams both release huge and powerful attacks on one another simultaneously, Tochi hides her eyes, not wanting to see who will emerge the victor. At the end of the match, she witnesses, extatic, Natsu defeat Sting and Rogue alone, leaving Fairy Tail in first place at the end of the fourth day. For some unknow reason, Tochi isn't cheering Fairy Tail the fifth day as she is gone somewhere. However, she mysteriously reappears during the Dragons' attack, bewildered and in awe to find such view. Thinking Igneel could be one of them or known by one of them, remembering an eager and younger Natsu talking about him when she was crying, she feels cheerful for him and starts assisting in the efforts to save the country. Tochi later stands as the fiery Atlas Flame descends upon Fairy Tail's location and, after Atlas finishes introducing himself, is blown away by his Dragon's Roar. During their arduous battle, the Fairy Tail Mages fighting at Mercurius manage to destroy the Eclipse Gate. With the time-travel device gone, the Dragons, as well as Motherglare's minions, start to disappear. No longer battling, Tochi cries with joy at Future Rogue's defeat, utterly glad that they won. A few days after the war against the Dragons, Tochi and the rest of the Mages involved in the Grand Magic Games were invited to a banquet hosted by the royal family at the Mercurius Castle. She is seen in the background multiples times, enjoying the buffet. She leaves it when Arcadios announces the King's entrance, but meet Natsu's face on the balcoony instead, causing her to burst into laughter, surprising her frozen in shock comrades. Later, she is taken aside by Erza, that confess she never heard Tochi laugh during the four years they spent together. As the "younger" girl answers she never was much of a laughing person, Erza notices she still calls her with an honorific suffix and asks her to stop, saying that she likes it, but it's not of any use now Tochi is the oldest of them. Shyly, Tochi accepts to consider her as an equal. After the banquet and Fairy Tail's return to Magnolia, it is said Tochi didn't come home with them but returned to Lilac Forest, having something important to do there. It is later known that she went there to visit her mother's grave, that died around this period of the year, to pray. Tartaros Arc ... Alvarez Empire Arc A few days after Fairy Tail's reunion, a mysterious hooded silhouette ventures near the guild's rebuilding, a smile on their face. The figure shows up at the door, asking to know if this is the location of the Fairy Tail Guild. They are greeted by Mirajane, who confirms it. They then unhood themselves, revealing to be Tochi proudly announcing her return home as she shows the letter she received from Lucy, then apologizes for being late to the meeting. Thrilled to see her, Mirajane embraces her, only to be blocked by something. Upon realizing a pregnant belly was getting in her way, she backs down, takes Tochi's hands and, with a smile, congratulates her profusely. Embarrassed by the display of affection, Tochi rubs her neck sheepishly, glancing around awkwardly to search for known faces in the crowd of guildmates. Then, she spots Natsu, and their gazes meet. She watches as he visibly pales at her sight, gesturing fondly to her belly with an omnious smile in a silent message adressed to him. ... Relationships * Timeline X770 : '''Tochi is born on January 22nd. '''X778 : '''Tochi's mother, Ethya Tate, is killed by the angry villagers of Lilac Village. '''X780 : '''Tochi joins Fairy Tail. '''X784 : '''The main series takes place. Lucy Heartfilia, Juvia Lockser, Gajeel Redfox, Wendy Marvell, Carla and Panther Lily join Fairy Tail. Laxus Dreyar is excommunicated from Fairy Tail. The S-Class Mage Promotion Trial is suspended. Tenrou Island is supposedly destroyed by Acnologia. '''X785 : '''Tochi spends the year with Porlyusica to improve her medical skills. '''X786 : '''Tochi spends the five next years in Lilac Forest to improve her magic skills. She goes to Warrod Sequen's House to ask him for help and stays there during a short unknown period. '''X791 : '''The disappeared Fairy Tail Members are rescued and return to the Fairy Tail Guild. The Grand Magic Games event takes place in Crocus. Fairy Tail dissolves and Tochi subsequently departs to Lilac Forest. '''X792 : '''Fairy Tail is re-established. Countries of Alvarez and Fiore engage in war over Fairy Heart. Fiore is victorious. Tochi gives birth to Haruhi Tsuto Tate. '''X793 : Tochi quits Fairy Tail to regain Lilac Forest with her daughter. X796 : Tochi returns to Magnolia with her daughter to meet with her old friends. She dies there due to the Hanahaki Disease. Trivia * Tochi, due to her age is far smaller than her friends, barely reaching Natsu and Erza's shoulder's. She's the third smallest character in this picture, only beaten by Makarov and Happy, who stand at about two or three heads under her. * Tochi, written with 土 (Tsuchi, "ground") and 地 (Ji, "earth"), means "local". Combined with 盾 (Tate, "shield"), her family name, it literally translates to "Local Shield". Similarly to the rest of Tochi's known relatives, her given name carries a nature theme beloved by the Tate family. It also symbolises her believed purpose in life, which is to protect her surrogate family, to "be a shield for her local entourage". * In her first design, Tochi was a Dragon Slayer of multiple elements who seemed to be in her late teens. She wore simplistic green clothes, a shirt and either pants or a skirt, and she and Natsu were together. Thankfully, she evolved from this rather cringy form to become the girl we better know her as. * According to her OC Template, she likes Natsu, books and her secret hideout while she dislikes being the center of attention, bugs and mirrors. * Tochi's favorite color is green, like her author. * She likes fairy tales the best. She identifies herself with the witches in them and generally tends to associate her friends with characters, often to try and understand them by basing them on stereotypes. * She doesn't have any favorite recipe or ingredient, she usually accepts whatever comes in her plate and doesn't pay attention to the taste at all. * She's extremely bad at cooking, but would probably be better if she found any recipe based on plants. * She writes novels and poems as a hobby. It's her way to exorcise her inner demons on the paper ; she finds comfort in writing characters sharing her troubles or in letting go of her thoughts in the flow of the ink. * She has a beautiful singing voice and would probably rank high in a karaoke contest, if not for her shyness preventing her from using it in public. * She isn't a very clean person. Having lived in a forest alone for years, she was more focused on finding food and water than in cleaning herself, and spending so much time away from her only caretaker who thus couldn't remind her to clean herself before it became urgent certainly didn't help. * Despite the fact that she lived in a forest most of her life, bugs are her nemesis. She especially hates spiders and also absolutely despises tatoos. Someone had to explain to her it wasn't a real one before she could accept it. She wanted it to be on her lower back so she would never get to look at it. * She have a secret hideout in the East Forest, where stands a gigantic cherry tree. She buried treasures under it. She likes the place because the cherry blossom reminds her of Natsu's hair and she feels safethere, listening to the wind and the quiet birds' chirp. * According to Volume 16 Limited Edition: Sorcerer Interview : ** The best quality of Fairy Tail according to Tochi was "It's a place where you forget about yourself and become more selfless". ** She wishes to write fairy tales for children and to become a good doctor in the future. ** She's not particularly close to anyone in the guild, since she isn't very social. ** The hardest job she ever had to take was to capture thiefs that worked in an Haunted Mansion. She had to fight them in a room filled with mirrors and spiders and couldn't stop shaking. * The Sorcerer Magazine also provided Tochi's battle statistics, along with the other contestants of the Grand Magic Games of X780. However, it was provided from the view point of Sorcerer Magazine reporter Jason. Which explains why some stats are missing and why others may be inaccurate. According to Jason from the Sorcerer Magazine, during his participation in the Grand Magic Games of X790, Tochi's stats are : Quotes * (To Ethya) "I'll be the greatest doctor in the world for you, Mama ! I'll cure everything bad, even loneliness and lack of money, so you won't cry about it anymore !" * (To Lucy) "You don't understand... Witches never have an happy ending in fairy tales. So why would it be any different for me ?" * (To herself) "If I shall become the villain for my friends to finally be happy, I'll do it. Nothing is more precious to me than their smiling faces. It doesn't matter if I'm not a part of this happiness... I'll cast this curse upon myself so they won't have to suffer." * (To herself) "I won't let it happen again... I won't let myself be taken advantage of anymore ! Even if it means stealing it from others, I shall grab my own happiness, like any witch would have done !" * (To Kyôka) "Who cares about who she truly was ? Only thing I got out of your blabbering was that you talked shit about my mother, and whoever does that never gets away with it alive ! So come at me and say that again to my face, bitch, and we'll see who's talking after that !" Links Articles from Fairy Tail Wikia I copied-pasted pieces of to write my own because I suck, I put them her so no one would blame me of not giving credits or stealing : * Bisca Connel → Synopsis : Phantom Lord arc, Edolas arc, Tenrou Island arc, Grand Magic Games arc, Avatar arc, Alvarez Empire arc * Mirajane Strauss → Magic & Abilities : Transformation Magic * Warrod Sequen → Magic & Abilities : Green Magic * Mard Geer Tartaros → Magic, Curses & Abilities : Etherious Form * Porlyusica → Magic & Abilities * Lucy Heartfilia → Magic & Abilities Category:Female Category:Fairy Tail Members Category:Deceased Category:Characters Category:Tochi's Timeline Category:Justtochi's Content